Daum posted a project manager diary on the Black Desert forum yesterday announcing that the Tamer class will not only be playable at launch but be available in the closed beta that is currently planned for December.

Daum also says that thanks to feedback from roleplayers(!), it has implemented walking and darker nights. “When the night cycle kicks in with clouds moving in front of the moon, you will require the use of lanterns,” the firm explains. Lanterns may be purchased from NPCs, though the devs are also working on craftable versions complete with oil that extends their use.

Looking for a fresh new MMO to take you into the last month of the year? We humbly present to you Sphere 3, which has just announced a launch date of December 2nd.

The free-to-play fantasy title has two core attributes in its design: “hardcore” and “PvP.” Players won’t be coddled with a targeting system but are instead challenged to use skill and reflexes to dominate the battlefield. Sphere 3 promises hundreds of quests, castle sieges, and a happy-go-lucky storyline involving “political deceit, war atrocities and vile treachery.”

The developers paid special attention to making sure that Sphere 3 will run smoothly on a wide range of machines so that performance won’t be a factor in the action gameplay.

Killer class reveals are old hat for Camelot Unchained at this point, so it should come as no surprise that CityState has unleashed another one here on Thanksgiving eve. This time around we’re talking healers, and as usual there are three archetypes to choose from: the Empath, the Stonehealer, and the Physician.

The Empath takes the wounds of his mates onto his own body, but he also has access to some of the most powerful heals in the all the realms. Stonehealers are “among the most stubborn, thick-skulled defenders” in the game, while Physicians rely on potions, elixirs, and magical abilities to do their thing.

What is the number one threat to Azeroth? Bears. That’s why Druids can turn into bears, after all. The new World of Warcraft expansion brings in further customization for Druid forms, and you can see these new customizations in a short gallery highlighting the many different flavors of bear available.

While the gallery doesn’t include the other most frequently used form for Druids (kitties!), it does give the tanks in the group an idea of what can be done with the new customization. Also, there are stone bears in the mix. So that’s pretty cool.

There is no way in the world to know when the second closed beta for a localized Black Desert will take place, although the first is planned for December. Why can’t you know? Because it’s all up in the air and depends wholly upon the localization process. There’s a lot of text to translate before the game is ready for wider testing and release. That’s an important takeaway from a recent set of community questions answered by the official sources.

Players who aren’t interested in playing any of the starter classes at launch will be able to reserve names and such for the post-launch classes; however, only the launch classes will have access to the pre-order costumes and such. There are also changes planned from the game’s native client for the first closed beta, and a later reply confirms that the game will feature very dark nights (you can check that out in a video just below). Fans will have to keep waiting for more news about the game’s release, but the first beta test should be firing up next month.

Crowfall has been in development for eight months now. That sounds like a substantial amount of time until you think about how long games typically take to go from “Kickstarter concept” to “playable game.” A new video from the development team shows off a part of the process by highlighting the development team’s biweekly sprint meetings and how they aid the overall process.

The short version is that sprint meetings are quick opportunities for every developer to jump in, highlight the past weeks of work, and touch base about moving forward. Really, though, the video does an excellent job of showing the process over time. Settle in and watch just below – it’s about half an hour, though, so make sure you don’t have anywhere that requires your urgent presence in five minutes.

How elite are your alliance lords? If you answer that question with a bewildered stare and a phrase that rhymes with “cut the truck,” that is entirely fair. But Elite Lord of Alliance (or ELOA if you’re into the whole brevity thing) launches today, and it may be assumed that the alliance lords in that game are quite elite. Very elite indeed.

Not convinced simply by the promise of lords and alliances? Perhaps you’ll be more interested in getting free stuff. Players who manage to fill up the in-game monster log between now and December 8th will receive a special gift box with a chance of containing a unique pet. Next month will see an increased level cap and a new raid dungeon, so you don’t have to be worried that the game won’t be updated. Or perhaps you’ll be too busy hacking and slashing away at the game as it is to be overly worried.

The studio announced today that the game will be going into open beta on Wednesday, December 2nd, for anyone who would like to try it out. A week later on December 10th, Devilian will release in the west for real, although players who have purchased one of the founder’s packs will get to jump into the live game on December 8th.

Can an apocalypse happen after the apocalypse? That’s the ironic state of affairs for H1Z1, which will be experiencing a full server wipe tomorrow with a new patch that promises to make the game more stable. The wipe will get rid of all inventory, characters, names, storage, and player-built structures while leaving account items intact.

Daybreak said that it’s taking measures to combat teaming in the solo versions of Battle Royale, such as possibly restricting vehicle use to one player apiece. The studio also warned players against violating the rules in these game modes: “We’ll be reviewing cases in which we think teaming is disrupting the game, and potentially taking action against those accounts.”

Good to know that in 2015 there is still one MMO studio out there brave enough to fight against the evils of socialization and teamwork.

Massively OP: Visionary Realms has obviously come a long way since 2014, when former employees made accusations about money mismanagement and work on the game slowed down. A lot of our readers have some serious trust issues with Pantheon given that and given the problems that preceded with Vanguard. What makes the current incarnation of Visionary Realms different? Why should they trust in Pantheon and its leadership?

Visionary Realms:Pantheon started in late 2013 as an idea and seat of the pants game development effort. In early 2014 a small team of game designers and programmers was trying to simultaneously juggle game development, a Kickstarter campaign, and running a company.

“We’d prefer to get Repop out, finish up things (15.10.1 and 15.10.2 are huge updates in terms of stability and features) and ship the game rather than starting completely fresh in a new engine (though you can never say never). Because if we went to a new engine we’d basically be rebuilding the game from scratch code wise, though some things would convert over (art, data). There are options if they fold or if they do not fold but hosting is no longer viable. Neither is particularly attractive, and the latter would require us to seek outside investment or partnerships. But there are quite a few different possibilities depending on how things play out.”

“Last week, a new company has entered the arena and I am super-excited about the possibilities,” she posted. “It is still early in the process of talking with them, though I have been on the phone every day helping them get the data they need to make a decision. If they decide to move forward, Pathfinder Online will benefit from a significant infusion that will allow the development team to expand to the largest it has been.”